When Downloading Apps, Beware of the ‘Brand-Jackers’

A screenshot of “Barbie Fashionistas” app, one of only a few Barbie apps made by Mattel.

There’s a good chance that Barbie app you just downloaded for your kid is a knock-off. Only five of 103 mobile apps containing the word “Barbie” in their titles were developed by Mattel Inc., which owns the famous doll’s trademark, according to new research published Wednesday.

Last week, the Journal reported about the data collection practices of 40 popular, free kid-friendly mobile apps. While conducting the tests, the Journal had to be careful to test the correct software; impostor apps, trying to ride the digital coattails of more successful ventures, are plentiful.

IP Lasso LLC, which published its “brandjacking” findings on its blog, helps companies monitor intellectual property violations in the major mobile app markets. Their research, published in response to the Journal’s findings, examines five major app markets and focuses on two iconic brands: Barbie and LEGO.

It’s unclear whether all of the “Barbie” apps violate Mattel’s trademark; it’s possible that some apps are protected under the fair use doctrine, and that some may have obtained licenses from the company. (Mattel declined the Journal’s request for comment.) But some apps appear to be clearly deceptive.

Unsurprisingly, many of these apps appear to request large amounts of personal information from users. Five fake Barbie apps created by the same developer all requested access to users’ GPS location, device identifier, camera, and browsing history, according to the research. IP Lasso routed one of these apps’ Internet traffic through a proxy server and found it sending the GPS coordinates and device ID to an Internet address based in Beijing.

Parents “don’t realize that a lot of apps out there are knockoffs,” says IP Lasso CEO Reggie Pierce. And brandjacking developers are “not the type of developer you’d want to trust with sensitive information.”

Of the 247 “LEGO” apps IP Lasso found, the company says only 38 were from the LEGO Group’s official developer account. (Six others were from Warner Bros., which licensed use of the LEGO brand in its apps.) A LEGO spokesman said the company tries to balance enthusiasm for its brand with intellectual property concerns and provides “Fair Play” guidelines on its website.

LEGO won’t, however, vouch for the safety of unofficial apps. One particular app IP Lasso analyzed has been downloaded an estimated 40,000 times, appears to feature screenshots from an official “LEGO Star Wars” game, and displayed an advertisement for a “poker app, featuring a scantily clad female avatar.”